


Calm or unhurried

by Slant



Series: The legion of face-punching [7]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Existentialism, Romance, Stars, The Sublime, diversity and inclusion, the sea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 16:00:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13127025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slant/pseuds/Slant
Summary: Cutesy slice-of-life romance.Apparently this is me now. Huh.





	Calm or unhurried

**Author's Note:**

> Once you start looking for terms for the Milky Way, you will quickly realise that 90% of human cultures absolutely suck at names. "The Milky Way" in particular is utter fail. Who looks at the glowing immensity and thinks "spilt boob-juice"? 
> 
> I'm going to call out "Silver River", "River of Heaven" and "Way of Souls" as not being complete ass. 
> 
> Sanskrit: मंदाकिनी Mandakini, "calm or unhurried"  
> Maori: Ika o te Rangi, "fish of the sky"

On a beach on Dino Island, Cranial Trauma and The Vacuous Gesture walked arm-in-arm under the bright zero-light-pollution stars. They filled the dome of the sky, scattered densely around the glowing bands of Ika o te Rangi.

They jostled awkwardly together, Cranial Trauma's statistically-average proportions completely failing to match stride length with The Vacuous Gesture's short legs and the heavy lumpen mass of jeir torso. He could shapeshift to fit, of course, but it was important to him that jee assigned value to these small awkwardnesses. There were probably couples—or larger groupings—for whom unspoiled beaches and starscapes were romantic. The living clay of his feet pressed into the powdery white sand.  
"Is getting sand between your toes as annoying as getting it incorporated into your micro-structure?"

The Vacuous Gesture pulled him closer and pushed jeir cheek against his bicep. Against the silent beauty of the unchanging stars, beside the eon-spanning roar and majestic indifference of the sea, Cranial Trauma had found the universe's indifference to (near-)human suffering in a grain of sand. It was important sometimes, to remember that if the Fullest Feeling of Sublime was in your own nothingness and oneness with nature, it could be found in anything.

The next step, jee hit jeir ear on his shoulder.  
Perfection.


End file.
